The Western Identification Network: a multi-state fingerprint identification system
States can no avail themselves of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS); AFIS comprises a high-speed computer system that digitizes, stores, and compares fingerprint data and images; fingerprints entered into AFIS are searched against millions of prints on file and are identified by experts from resulting candidate lists; AFIS standards have been promulgated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS), and the system supports member submissions to the FBI through its CJIS wide-area network (WAN) connection
The Western Identification Network (WIN) is working with the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (Nlets), also known as the International Justice and Public Safety Network, to provide a multistate Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). AFIS comprises a high-speed computer system that digitizes, stores, and compares fingerprint data and images. Fingerprints entered into AFIS are searched against millions of prints on file and are identified by experts from resulting candidate lists. WIN seeks to help states identify individuals by providing a network where states can search and share fingerprints over a secure, reliable connection. Chelsea S. Keefer, document specialist at Nlets in Phoenix, Arizona writes in the Police Chief that with a like-minded mission and similar network in place, Nlets plays a major role in managing and supporting the WIN network.
About WIN
WIN was formed in May 1988 to facilitate creation of the first multistate AFIS. This took place approximately ten years prior to going live. In the mid-1980s, the California Department of Justice had successfully interfaced the state with local California agency AFIS systems. Keefer writes that building on California’s experience, WIN took the unprecedented step of being the first entity to electronically share fingerprint data across state lines. WIN supports its members via national AFIS standards promulgated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS), and supports member submissions to the FBI through its CJIS wide-area network (WAN) connection.
WIN is a consortium of state and local law enforcement agencies that have implemented a shared network and AFIS processing service bureau to provide the ability to search the criminal and civil fingerprint records of these member agencies. Currently, eight states — Alaska, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming — use the WIN AFIS service bureau in Rancho Cordova, California. The service bureau contains approximately 6 million 10-print records and a growing number of palm prints and other record types. Interfaces are maintained with California and its local agency systems as well as Las Vegas Metro, Nevada, and King County/Seattle, Washington, which, in total, provide members access to twenty-six million searchable fingerprint records.
How it works
Consider this: A man in Oregon is arrested for domestic violence. He is fingerprinted at the local county jail. Using a Live Scan terminal, the man’s fingerprints are sent to the main WIN system at Oregon State Police, which automatically
